Chairwoman Anuradha Desai (below) said: “We do not mean anything bad for Sam Allardyce, but we feel that we need to take the club up in the league and grow.[>

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“We want Blackburn Rovers to be fourth or fifth in the league or even better. It is nothing against Sam, but we have a different vision looking forward and we want the club to grow.[>

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“We had been talking to Sam in the past few weeks, but he did not fit in with our vision for the club’s future.[>

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“We wanted good football, wanted the games to be interesting and of course wanted to win and to have good players. We needed to do some changes and Sam going is, of course, the main change. This is a major step, but it was needed. We thought, ‘Why delay?’[>

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“The fans should trust us and have ­belief in us because this is in the best interests of the club.[>

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“Our thinking now is that it will be a British manager, but we are open if there is an outstanding candidate, someone who would be really, really good for the club.”[>

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Critics of Allardyce have complained about his route-one tactics, which were cited as one reason he got the boot from Newcastle.[>

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Martin O’Neill is the bookies’ ­favourite to replace him, although Desai’s remarks do not rule out the appointment of Dutchman Martin Jol.[>

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Desai added: “It could now be a couple of months before a new manager is put in place.[>

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“Right now we are going to have a study and put a lot of thought in to who the next manager of Blackburn Rovers will be.[>